Athletics’ Funding

SOME FACTS ABOUT THE UIUC ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT

• The Athletic Department does not contribute any money to the University
• The University has contributed $13 million to the Athletic Dept. over the past decade
• UIUC students have to pay a mandatory athletic fee to the Athletic Department
• UIUC students have to pay a mandatory fee to upgrade the basketball stadium

As the Athletic Department gets more and more revenue …

It spends more and more on salaries. Total salary spending has increased 89% over the past decade.

(source of data: UIUC annual reports to the NCAA)

Of the top 10 highest paid employees at UIUC, SIX were from athletics (images and totals from 2015).

The Athletic Department continues to add more and more sources of revenue, such as the new “six-figure benefit*” for an official beer sponsorship, beginning Sept. of 2014. None of the that revenue goes to the university.* contract is not subject to the Illinois Freedom of Information Act. Five years ago at the Univ. of Wisconsin, a similar sponsorship brought in $425,000 per year

Read the Chicago Tribune‘s article from 2011 about the free tuition waivers given to the athletic department by the university. These waivers continue today, costing the university $700,000 in 2014-15.

From the Tribune article:

“The University of Illinois in June announced a massive fundraising campaign for financial aid assistance, its latest effort to help struggling students pay for college.

But a potential source of money remains committed to the university division so flush it basically operates independently: the athletics department, which has a $75 million operating budget.”